Preservation of coffee



- binations pointed out in the appended claims. 1 ing; and to prevent rancidity or other deterioracidity in cofiee are caused by oxidation of arocofl'ee is obtained.

at e ted-Msa aisu I 't 2,215,315 we umrao STAT ES PATENT OFFlCE ifffifiifffii.

no Drawing. mmuonaumt 12, 1939,

7 Serial mzaam a cam. (01. 99-152) This invention relates to a new and useful Objects of the invention are to preserve freshmethod for the preservation of roasted coffee and 'ness and aroma and flavor of cofl'ee so that it to a novel-form of preparing and packaging cofwill retain substantially indefinitely those qualifee for preservation and mechandising. ties to the extent existing immediately after Objects and advantages of the invention will roasting; to prevent oxidation and resulting stale be set forth in part hereinafter and in part will ness and rancidity, primarily by preventing the be obvious herefrom, or may be learned by pracevolution and dissipation of CO: from the coffee; tice with the invention, the same being realized to return to and hold in the coffee much of the and attained by means of the steps and comaroma and volatile gases liberated during roast-,-

The invention consists inthe novel steps, 'tion of thecoifee which may come from bacterial methods; procedures, combinations and improve action'or the like. 'Other objects of the invention ments herein described. are to reduce oxidation by reducing the area of The invention is directedtoprovidi-ng a method the coffee exposed to the atmosphere: to save 15 and means for maintaining roasted coffee in bulk in handling and storing coffee; and to pro- 15 fresh condition substantially indefinitely by pre vide a convenient form for packaging, merchanventing the occurrence of those factors which dising and utilizing preserved coffee, both in bulk cause or accompany rancidity and staleness. It and in.retail..- Furthermore, a more tasty brew 1; is generally understood that staleness and ranand one containing a higher concentration 0 matic oils and esters which are found in the The foregoing objects of the invention are freshly roasted coffee bean. At normal pressures preferably attained by subjecting the coffee imand temperatures roasted coffee generates and mediately after roasting to a very low temperagives off very large quantities of carbon dioxide ture which. causes the gases liberated during 5 gas. The presence of the gas on and about the -roasting to'he re-absorbed by the .roasted coffee. 35'

coffee beans or particles acts as a partial seal The, coffee may be ground while in the low temagainst oxidation, theheavier CO2 clinging to the perature condition and little or no loss of gas and coffee and excluding oxygen. Researchhasshown flavor will occur. By maintaining the coffee at that rancidity and staleness of roasted coffee low temperatures thereafter, its freshness willbe appear to be a function of the emanation of CO1. substantially unchanged until the moment of A curve showing the decreasing amounts of rebrewing. The refrigerated coffee is also subsidual gas in roasted'cofiee over a period of time jected to a very high degree 'of compression, after roasting is almost paralleled by the curve thereby to compact the chilled grains into cakesof freshness and flavor, while staleness or ran- 'or blocks of relatively small volume. These com- 5 cidity develops after the quantity of gas has fallen pressed cakes are maintained at lowv temperaoff to approximately 10% and beginning at that tures during subsequent handling, thereby propoint staleness develops substantially as the re-. viding coffee in a form having a relatively small ciprocal of the gas emanation curve. surface 'exposed and in which the low tempera- It is also known that the freshness of coflee ture prevents substantial emanation of gas. varies inversely with the amount of surface ex- Hence oxidation and consequent rancidity and o posed. Thus roasted coffee beans remain fresh 9- staleness e. substantially prevented and the for a considerably longer time than ground cofcoffee is uil te' c su rin Dreetieelly fee, apparently because in the bean a les er ar a its original state of freshness. When a cake of is exposed to oxidation. Furthermore, a greater the c mp d nd ,e d coffee is dropped n amount of gas is naturally dissipated from ground boiling-water for brewing, all the original aroma cofiee than from a bean, whi h t some t t and volatile gases whichv are immediately lib- I acts as a natural container I C 2. When-the 'erated from the cake of coffee pass directly into ground coffee is subjected to low pressure, as in the brewing water which thus receives and aba vacuum can or exhausted atmosphere, the gas sorbs the highest possible amount of flavor and is drawn off or separated from the coffee to a aroma, while the brew will be of higher concen- 50 greater extent. than in atmospheric pressure, so tration or specific gravity per unit of coffee used. that when the can is opened and the contained The chilled coffee is compressed into any degas escapes, the remaining coffee is apt to get sired shape or form of cake adapted for convenstale much more rapidly because of the loss'of a lent handling. Thus the cakes may be thin and relatively reat amount of CO2 gas. flat and formed in sections which may be broken 55 off in units corresponding to say one cup, one pound, or any other desired measure. Furthermore, by so forming the chilled coffee, it may be conveniently wrapped in foil or other suitable pack i g material which further insulates it from the atmosphere, this aiding in maintainroasting and those clinging to and about the roasted beans and entrained therewith are, by virtue of the drop in temperature, caused to contract and to some extent are automatically recaptured by the beans. In addition, gases given off during roasting may be transferred by suitable conduits from the roasting chamber to the chilling chamber, there to undergo the chilling action and thus add to the richness of the at mosphere in which the coffee is chilled and thereby increase the opportunity for the cofiee to recapture these surrounding gases.

The next step in the preferred operation of my process is to grind the cofiee tov the desired fineness while maintaining it in the chilled state. For this purpose the grinding rollers and other parts of the grinding mechanism are preferably prechilled or are maintained in the low-temperature atmosphere at all times so that the grinding will not substantially raise the temperature of the refrigerated beans.

As the next step, the cold ground coffee is subjected to a relatively high compression to thereby compact it into cakes or blocks having a vol.- ume substantially less than that of theloosely packed, ground coffee and preferably to a volume no more than one-half that of the loosely packed grounds. is preferably packed into chilled dies and sub- .iected to compression suflicient to reduce it to the desired volume and to cakes or blocks of the desired size. The amount of compression and volume reduction and also the size and shape of the cakes will depend upon the particular wholesale handling and/or retail use to which the coffee is intended to be put. A relatively low compression of the order of 1,000 to 5,000 pounds per sq. in. will produce a substantial reduction in volume, reducing the voids between the grains and thereby eliminating oxidating surfaces and the presence of air. The cake so formed will be fairly friable or crumbly, especially on the surface, and can be spooned from a container. Consequently this amount of compression appears'to be best adapted for production of bulk packages of coffee in volumes for one pound or one-half poundcakes where the coffee is to be taken spoonfuls'at a time from the container. When it is desired to produce a reater volume reduction and a more compact form of cake, pressures from 10,000 to 25,000 pounds persq. in. may be employed. These heavier pressures produce cakes or blocks which are very closely integrated and have a fairly,

smooth and solid surface, the grains themselves being compacted as well as eliminating voids therebetween. Thus when it is desired to pro- For this operation the coffee.

duce individual thin cakes or wafer's'of coffee such as might-be used to' make one or a few cups of brewed coffee, the heavier pressures are preferably employed. It is also possible and desirable to compress the chilled coffee into relatively flat, thin blocks which may be scored or provided with lines of weakness to sub-divide same into smaller sections which may be individually broken off from the main block, substantially in the manner now employed with cakes of milk chocolate. Such sub-sections may be used for Purposes for measurement for the brewing of a desired amount of coffee while the remainder of the cake may be retained for later use.

The compressed chilled coffee is preferably packaged by wrapping in foil or other material which will act as a heat insulator and facilitate maintenance of a low temperature after packing. Thus individual wafers may be separately wrapped in foil and packaged together in a box or carton, while larger bulk units may be separately wrapped and/or packaged in suitable cartons or the like.

From the time thecoffee is first chilled after roasting until it is deliveredto the individual ,consumer, it is preferably maintained at the low temperatures indicated above. By so keeping the coffee cold, any substantial emanation of gas therefrom is prevented and consequently the beginnings of oxidation and rancidity or staleness are inhibited. Thus the cofiee is delivered to the consumer in substantially the state of freshness and goodness it had when roasted, and that state can be maintained substantially indefinitely by the maintenance of low temperatures. Furthermore, the consumer can additionally prolong the state .of freshness by keeping the coffee in the ice-box or other domestic refrigerator at sub-normal temperatures which will materially prolong the inhibition of rancidity and staleness. However, even when the chilled and compressed coffee is kept in the open atmosphere at normal temperatures, the progress of oxidation and staleness are materially 'reduced because of the small surface area exposed and because the compact cake acts to a considerable extent as its own insulator, thus deferring the rise in temperature within the cake for a substantial time.

While in the preferred form of the invention the mice is groundbefore compacting by pressure, it is also contemplated to compress the freshly roasted beans into integral blocks or cakes by pressure alone without an intermediate grinding operation. With suflicient pressure the b'eans will be crushed to a point whereupon brewing the bean will disintegrate into particles sufficiently small to release an adequate amount of color and flavor into the brew.

In one preferred form of packaging the coffee in accordance with my process, the container, such as a cardboard carton preferably lined 'with foil, is fitted into or seated directly in the mould and filled with chilled ground coffee to be compressed. The plunger, shaped to conform to the outline of the mould and container is then forced into the top of the container and compresses the coffee directly in the container to the degree of compactness and volume reduction desired. Thus the coffee may be packed andcompressed 'in household or retail containers in relatively simple and inexpensive manner, particularly where the degree of compression is such as to leave the cofiee in a relatively crumbly condition so that it may be spooned out of the container.

The invention in its broader aspects is not perature of the roasted cofiee s b t y limited to the specific steps and procedures de- 1 W 1 i f e' nl Point 1' tgl. 81411111118 the scribed but departures may be made therefrom coflee while maintaining said low temperature within the scope of the accompanying claims aiid compressing the cofleeto a compact, selfout dep rting from the principles of the in-. sustaining block while the coffee is at said low 5 vention and without sacrificing its chief advanbemp rflt a tages. 3. Process of preserving coflee which includes What I claim is: the steps [oi roasting c'oflee, reducing the tem- 1. Process oi preserving coflee which includes perature of the roasted coilee substantially below 10 the steps 0! roastingicofleefreducing the teme eezi point o water i the e cc perature of the roasted coflee substantially bethe roaster gase in e coflee Whil lovg thegreezingrpcint of water and compressing maintaining the coffee at said low temperature H ---'"'the coflee to a compact, sell-sustaining block and compressing the coil'ee to a compact, selfwhile the coffee is at said low temperature. sustaining block while the coffee is atv said low I 2. Processor preserving coflfee which includes temperature. y Q

the steps of roasting'cofiee, reducing the-tem- --r JOHN C. DONNELLY. 

